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Gardust Crusaders
Gardust Crusaders was the 2nd story arc in Pokemon RP, although it's also considered the first due to Arc Zero being considered a proto-arc by some. Gardust is notable for the split opinions on the arc itself; some still viewed it as good, some, including Michael himself, looked back on it with regret, and others felt that no matter how flawed it was, it was still important to the RP's history. The arc was centered around Iris searching for her father. After the defeat of Yveltal Prime, everyone returned to the island and continued life as normal. However, it was noted that Iris was suffering from incredibly violent outbursts and mood swings. Iris mentioned she had some kind of sickness, one she'd had since childhood and that her mother prepared her to deal with. After an analysis, Ducky and E concluded that it may have something to do with her lineage: her father was a Muk, and an incredibly powerful one at that, one with strangely alien DNA. E and Ducky came up with a GPS to track the energy readings and discovered Iris father was alive and in the Sinnoh region. Gathering a team of allies, she set off. The team arrived in Sunnyshore, and after a day of shopping around decided to leave, when they encountered the Treecko thief Champ. Champ joined their party and together they made a stop at Sendoff Springs so Iris could pay respects to her mother. While the party was paying respects, Kubo returned and attempted to attack them. Before he could, he was impaled through the chest by Dahlia. Dahlia soon recognizes Iris, and Iris reels back in horror at the thought of the serial killer who murdered her mother is alive again. Dahlia soundly thrashes the party before being scared away by the prescence of Azelf. Azelf and the other Lake Spirits take them to talk with Diancie, who mentions Dahlia has indeed returned from the grave as a result of the battle with Yveltal Prime. Dahlia has apparently spent some time killing Carbink in Diancie's kingdom while she was away, and had come up through the Sinnoh underground when she heard that Iris was around. The Spirits and Diancie soon depart, and the heroes leave the lake for Hearthome city. Once there, Pedan and Carrots hook up. While that goes on, the rest of the party is confronted with Kermit Jagger, an obnoxious ex of Melody's. After he is soundly defeated, the team makes plans to leave, but it turns out Dahlia may be in Veilstone and killing trainers to lure them in. An argument between Kagero and Zorro causes Iris to break down and almost shout apart the city. Ducky calls in and gives important details: Iris has an incredible gift in her, an incredible Voice; this charges up her Hyper Voice attack to levels beyond what most other Pokemon are capable of and lets her have the power to level buildings or mountains if it goes unchecked. He mentions her deteriorating condition and her sickness may be causing her to slip a bit, as she is usually in control. The team, after apologies go around, make their way to Solaceon Town, where Iris retrieves a picture of their mother. They then go and investigate the ruins, as three children apparently went missing there; inside the ruins, they find Dahlia using the corpses as puppets. As Dahlia is no longer supercharged from having resurrected, she is beaten down by the team, and Iris ends her life by crushing her beneath a collapsed ceiling using her Voice. As the team exits, they are assaulted by Mel, who uses a mysterious power to weaken their attacks and drain them of their powerful energy. She taunts them, telling them that Dahlia yet lives, before flying off. Shaken but undeterred, the group makes their way northward, to Celestic town. When they get there, they notice the town is eerily quiet. Dahlia then reveals herself and shows off the corpses of the entire town; Mel is revealed to be working alongside her. In the ensuing battle, Mel makes off with Pikaboo and Dahlia brutally beats down Champ before fleeing. It is at this point the group decides to split in two, with AA, Croc, Pedan, Carrots, Champ, Jiriah, and Darkrai heading to save Pikaboo, and Iris, Melody, Howlett, Kagero, Charlotte, Logan, and Zorro heading to Snowpoint to find Iris' father. Iris mentions Dahlia is probably hiding in the Old Chateau, where she killed Michael's first Pokemon. After this, the groups part ways. AA and his team come to Old Chateau where they make a gruesome discovery: Dahlia and Mel had been trying to get Pikaboo to kill innocent humans, and when he wouldn't, Dahlia killed them before his eyes. A battle ensued, in which Pedan was severely injured and Dahlia was beaten to the point of madness. Carrots, concerned for his lover, found the strength inside himself to Mega Evolve and burned Dahlia with Fire Punch, allowing Champ to finish her off. At the Pokemon center afterwards, they have another encounter with Kermit, who offers them a ride in return for a chance to fight Darkrai for Melody's hand. The group, feeling they have no choice, agree to go along with him, but not before Pikaboo attempts to strangle Kermit. Pedan and Carrots decide to stay behind so Pedan can heal from his wounds. Iris' group makes it to Snowpoint, and soon after Kermit and the others arrive. Reunited, the group heads to Snowpoint Temple, only to be attacked by Mel. Champ takes this time to lure her away and distract her, and at this point she reveals her plan: to devour the egg of Yveltal and become death itself. Undeterred, Champ manages to best her and drive her off, evolving in the process. Meanwhile, the other team heads into the bowels where they yet again confront Dahlia, who is using her vines to hold up the floor of the temple, and killing her again would cause the place to collapse on top of them. After a brief battle, the sludge pit in the basement drags Dahlia in, and then Iris' father appears. He introduces himself as Nigel, and reveals Dahlia is very much alive inside him, trapped in a gastric acid pocket that nullifies her abilities and prevents her from coming back to life. Iris is incredibly happy to meet him, but most of the team is rather suspicious of him. Together, the whole team and Kermit gather Pedan, Carrots, and Champ, and return to the island triumphant. Upon return, they learn much has happened when they're gone, such as Rin leaving her girlfriend Luna due to having strong feelings for AA, several new Pokemon showing up such as Xeno and Susan, and all sorts of other hijinks. Upon his return, Rin challenges AA to another battle, which AA wins; it is at this point Rin confesses her love, and shortly after the two become a couple. With everyone on the island happy, content, and Ducky and E working to find some sort of cure for Iris' condition, things are looking better than ever. At the banquet for the Gardust Crusdaer's return, it was revealed that the newcomer, a Corsola named Wayne, had poisoned the cheesecake. It was the revealed he was working for Mel and Dahlia, and was acting as a distraction so that Mel could devour the Yveltal egg and gain its powers. The team rushed to stop her, but was too late, and the resulting stress caused Iris to pass out. Nigel, in a rage, attacks Mel, and reveals three incredible powers: first, he has an extradimensional Mega Evolution. Second, he has his own Stand, Love. Third, he was one of the supposedly mythical "Dark" Pokemon, Pokemon with dark powers born of abuse and cruelty. He uses these powers together to drive Mel away; however, these powers make those who were suspicious of him, particularly Howlett, even more suspicious. While the mess from the battle is cleaned up, Nigel goes to speak with Howlett, and warns that if Howlett tries anything, Nigel can easily release Dahlia back into the world. The next day, Robin Hoot Sr. overhears someone snooping about in the labs while everyone is gone; he investigates, only to find Nigel. Nigel strangles him to death, prompting an investigation which leads to the conclusion that Nigel did it. Howlett rushes off to kill Nigel, but Iris jumps to his defense. At this time, Nigel kills Iris and absorbs the dark power in her to achieve his Perfect Dark Form. In the afterlife, Iris reunites with her mother, who tells her that she is a Light Pokemon and gives her the move Luster Purge to use as her Stand. Returning to life, Iris uses her Stand, Shinedown, to purge her father's evil, and then uses her Voice to completely eradicate him (after he is beaten down by all her friends, of course). The heroes, having defeated the great evil and apologize to each other, all do poses and make Jojo references, happy to have saved the world. Meanwhile, Mel and Dahlia reunite, and after confessing their love for each other, fly off for a cooldown period. Retcons Due to the early installment weirdness of Gardust, many parts of the arc with Dahlia and Mel were retconned out of regret for how unnecessarily dark they were, such as: * The Pikaboo torture scene. * Dahlia using children's corpses as puppets. * Dahlia killing an entire town and turning the victims into a tree using Frenzy Plant. Other retcons were also made due to story decisions made later in the RP's life cycle being inconsistent with the events of Gardust, most notably Nigel being Iris' father being retconned into her father being a dwarf that Nanael had fell in love with and got pregnant by before she even met Nigel, and Nanael only brainwashing Nigel into believing he was Iris' father. This is inconsistent with the main plot of Gardust, and also contradicts E and Ducky tracking down Nigel through Iris' DNA, as well as the sickness Iris was inflicted with. Minor retcons, that are more retcons for the RP as a whole rather than the arc specifically, are simple things such as Riza's name being Kagero during the arc, and Leah being a girl. Category:Arcs Category:Main RP Arcs